Korea Annual Leave Calculator

How to use

1. Enter the hire date and calculation date; turn on termination reconciliation when employment ends.
2. Set the regular workplace size and average contractual hours per week.
3. If any completed measurement period was below 80%, enter fully attended months for the current period.
4. Enter unused days from the company ledger, monthly ordinary wage, monthly hours, and daily hours.
5. Read both accrual bases, the cumulative difference, termination shortfall, and substituted pay formula.

Korean annual-leave entitlement under the current 2026 law

Under Labor Standards Act Article 60 effective October 8, 2026, an eligible worker earns one day after each fully attended month during the first year, up to 11 days. After a year with at least 80% attendance, the grant is 15 days. From three completed years, one day is added for each two years beyond the first, capped at 25. Below 80% annual attendance, one day is still earned for each fully attended month.

The statutory rule generally requires a workplace with at least 5 regular employees and an average of at least 15 contractual hours per week over four weeks. Official sources are Labor Standards Act Articles 18 and 60 and Enforcement Decree Articles 7 and 9 with attached Tables 1 and 2 in the National Law Information Center, checked October 22, 2026. The core 15-day, 25-day, 80%, and 15-hour figures did not change in 2026.

Why an exact one-year contract usually gets 11 days, not 26

Following Supreme Court decision 2021Da227100, the Ministry of Employment and Labor changed its interpretation on December 16, 2021. The 15-day grant arises only if the employment relationship still exists on the day after the first year of work is completed. A worker hired January 1, 2025 and leaving after December 31, 2025 therefore has up to 11 first-year days; if employment continues through January 1, 2026, another 15 days arise and the cumulative maximum becomes 26. The Ministry says the same timing principle applies to permanent and fixed-term workers.

Each first-year monthly day also arises on the day after that month is completed. The calculator uses calendar-month and anniversary dates rather than blindly adding 365 days, so leap years and February month ends do not overflow into March. The official source is the Ministry release “Changed interpretation of annual paid leave,” dated December 16, 2021 and rechecked October 22, 2026.

Fiscal-year grants and termination reconciliation

The statutory baseline follows each employee’s hire date, but work rules may administer leave on a January 1 fiscal-year basis. For a midyear hire, this calculator estimates the first prorated grant as 15 × calendar days from hire through December 31 ÷ 365 or 366, preserving two decimals because the employer’s rules control fractional rounding. Official guidance refers to scheduled workdays, so the company calendar remains decisive.

A Ministry 1350 answer dated 2026-02-10 gives a May 10, 2022 hire a January 1 grant of 15 × 236 ÷ 365 = 9.7 days. It also says that, at termination, a fiscal-year cumulative total below the statutory hire-date total should be settled as unused-leave pay. This calculator keeps both totals visible and, in termination mode, adds only a positive shortfall to the ledger’s unused days.

How Korean unused annual-leave pay is estimated

The usual estimate is unused days × one day of ordinary wage. One day of ordinary wage is the ordinary hourly wage × contractual hours per day. For a monthly worker on a 40-hour week, the hourly figure is commonly monthly ordinary wage ÷ 209 hours; a Ministry 1350 answer on January 7, 2026 confirms that formula. 209 is not universal, so this calculator leaves both monthly and daily hours editable and rounds only the final before-tax won amount.

If every written notice and date-designation step in Labor Standards Act Article 61 was validly completed and the specific leave then expired, the employer may be released from compensation for that leave. Coverage, notice timing, and expiry must be checked leave by leave, so this calculator does not use one switch to zero every ledger day or a newly reconciled termination shortfall. Enter only unused days confirmed as payable, and check work rules and notices or contact the Ministry at 1350 for an individual case.

Frequently asked questions